Evesham Technology SilverEDGE 300NH Server - Evesham SilverEDGE 300NH

Summary

Our Score:

9

Storage features are extensive as the motherboard offers four embedded 3Gbps SATA ports and the integrated controller supports RAID 0, -1 and -10 arrays. However, this lies idle as the price includes an LSI Logic MegaRAID SATA150 6-port PCI-X RAID controller which brings RAID-5 and -50 to the table. The three WD drives came preconfigured in a RAID-5 array, which delivers good fault tolerance but also improved read performance. Note that the drive module is supplied with the drive carriers already provided for the spare bays so it’ll be easy enough to add more hard disks as and when required.

Server management facilities are available as the 300NH comes with Intel’s Server Manager 8.40 software included, which provides good local and remote monitoring facilities from its smart web interface. The motherboard has plenty of sensors and the software can provide a complete rundown on areas such as chassis and processor temperatures, system voltages, hard disk space and fan speeds although do note that the fan speeds for the hard disk module are not accessible. The System tab provides a complete inventory of hardware and many software components and where these are variable values you can go straight to configuring alert actions for them.

Upper and lower thresholds can be set for, say the CPU core temperature or cooling fan speeds, and if either are breached Server Manager can issue warnings ranging from a pop-up message and playing a sound, to sending an email and running another application. The RAID controller is managed separately using the bundled Power Console Plus, which is the least impressive of the management tools as LSI hasn’t updated it for years and in the event of an array degradation alerting is limited to sounding an audible alarm only.

Verdict

The SilverEDGE 300NH looks a fine choice for small businesses looking for a good value entry-level server. It comes with a decent Intel-based specification that includes a triple disk, hot-swap RAID-5 array, offers plenty of room to grow with demand and the price includes a one year on-site warranty.

Overall Score

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